(Re)activate, (Re)direct, (Re)arrange: Exploring the Design Space of Direct Interactions with Flavobacteria

Title of the Paper

(Re)activate, (Re)direct, (Re)arrange: Exploring the Design Space of Direct Interactions with Flavobacteria

Bibliographic Information

• Subject Area: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Microbial Interaction Design
• Keywords: Biodesign, Human-Microbe Interaction, Direct Interaction, Flavobacteria, Structural Color, Living Artifacts, Bio-Driven Design, Microbial Media

Research Background and Problem

• Identified Problems or Challenges:

  1. Advances in technology and reduced opportunities for interaction with nature have distanced humans from the natural world, impacting ecological awareness and human well-being.
  2. Microorganisms have been integrated into various interactive systems, but most human-microbe interactions are indirect, and designers lack a framework for exploring direct interaction.
  3. The invisibility or differing timescales of microbial responses limit the potential for fostering intimate and symbiotic relationships between humans and microbes.

• Significance: Exploring direct human-microbe interactions can help reconnect humans with nature, enhance environmental awareness, and inspire the design of new living artifacts that foster a "culture of cultivation," addressing environmental crises and supporting mental health.

• Research Motivation and Related Work:

  1. Flavobacteria is an emerging organic medium capable of producing structural color, with unique responses and design potential.
  2. Existing designs often focus on indirect interaction, while direct interaction, such as physical interaction without mediators, shows potential for fostering human-microbe relationships (e.g., symbiosis).
  3. This study aims to explore direct interaction mechanisms with novel media like Flavobacteria, providing new inspiration and functional design spaces for HCI designers.

Solution

• Methods or Solutions: This study proposes a "design space":

  1. Exploring the interactive properties of Flavobacteria, including mechanisms to activate, direct, and rearrange its color.
  2. Introducing innovative HCI methods where human actions such as "pressing," "tilting," and "swiping" directly influence the color of Flavobacteria.

• Innovations:

  1. Defined the scope of direct interaction: directly influencing microbes through human actions (e.g., touch, movement) and perceiving microbial changes without external mediators.
  2. Established an initial "direct interaction design space" focused on Flavobacteria, encompassing basic habitat architecture, input mechanisms, and human input methods.
  3. Proposed a novel interaction model where color changes reflect the relationship between humans and microscopic organisms.

• Implementation Steps and Key Technologies:

  1. Experimental Setup: In a biological lab, Flavobacteria was used as the target microorganism to design a series of interaction experiments involving pressing, tilting, and swiping, collecting data and observing effects across different spatial and temporal scales.
  2. Data Collection: Microbial responses were captured using photography and video, analyzing growth patterns, textures, and optical color changes.
  3. Interactive Prototype Development: Designed open/closed habitat devices (e.g., flexible membrane covers, petri dishes) to support testing.

Research Outcomes

• Specific Results:

  1. Established a conceptual design space showcasing three types of direct interactions with Flavobacteria: (1) activating its color, (2) directing its growth, and (3) rearranging its optical structure.
  2. Verified the responsive characteristics of Flavobacteria:
     • Pressing Experiment: Applying mechanical pressure activated dormant Flavobacteria, regenerating optical color.
     • Tilting Experiment: Changing angles redirected Flavobacteria's growth and morphology over time.
     • Swiping Experiment: Swiping disrupted microbial optical structures and induced cellular reorganization.
  3. Proposed conceptual applications of Flavobacteria in daily life and public spaces, such as clothing (FlavoToile), interactive flooring (FlavoTread), and time display devices (FlavoTempo).

• Advantages Compared to Existing Solutions:

  1. Expanded the HCI field by positioning microbes as interactive agents, innovatively bridging the natural and digital worlds.
  2. Emphasized emotional and reciprocal interactions with living organisms, beyond mere technical control and precision.

• Experimental or Evaluation Results:

  • Flavobacteria responded to disturbances (e.g., swiping) within minutes or adjusted its structural organization over days (e.g., in response to tilting), demonstrating the unique temporal scales of microbial life.
  • The color changes in microbes could be observed from multiple angles, providing direct interaction feedback without requiring additional digital modulation.

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  1. Limitations:
     • Current research is primarily conducted in laboratory environments, and the interaction constraints in real-life applications remain unexplored.
     • Experiments are limited by the cultivation environment and spatial constraints of Flavobacteria, requiring further optimization of device scale and interaction frequency.
  2. Future Directions:
     • Explore larger-scale human-microbe interactions to study authentic perception and emotional responses.
     • Develop digital tools to help designers better understand and utilize the dynamic properties of Flavobacteria.
     • Extend experiments to other microbial species to further validate the generalizability of the direct interaction model.

Conclusion

This study preliminarily explores the potential applications of Flavobacteria in HCI and, by defining the core principles and experimental methods of direct interaction design, opens new pathways for bio-driven design and deeper human-environment interactions. This research provides a new perspective at the intersection of technology and nature, reaffirming the importance of rethinking design practices from a multi-species perspective.